If you feel like the world needs to change but you don't know how to get started on doing your part, this book is here to help. It features 50 personal essays of political action from people all over the US, and each essay has several tips for how you can do something similar in your own life.

A few of the ideas are: starting a political book club, registering voters in likely or unlikely places, taking action with your family, reading more news and watching less TV "news", and so on.

But remember -- these are just normal people. They have day jobs, just like you. They have families and demanding kids, just like you. Sometimes they feel like what they think or do doesn't matter, just like you. The only difference is that they've chosen to take a few minutes out of their month or day or week to do something that makes them feel better about themselves and about the direction of their community.

But this lies in all of us. We all have the power to throw off the restraints of despair and rekindle some hope in our lives and the lives of those around us.

I should probably disclose that the essay on page 30 is mine! But this isn't about personal promotion, I assure you. All the proceeds from this book are funneled back into MoveOn.org. I have read the essays in this book, and I find them truly inspiring. I hope you will too.

And with that, I'll leave you with these bits of wisdom...

"You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it." --Maya Angelou

"The world is not dangerous because of those who do harm but because of those who look at it without doing anything." --Albert Einstein

"Whatever you do may seem insignificant, but it is most important that you do it." --Mahatma Gandhi

This book will be traveling on a bookray. Send me a private message if you're interested in participating.

Tips for successful participation in a bookray or ring:

• As soon as you receive the book, add a journal entry so the sender knows it wasn't lost in transit.
• Try to read the book within 1-3 months so those after you in the shipping order don't have to wait too long.
• When you mail the book, add a journal entry with the date you mailed it. This will help me track it down with the postal service if it gets lost in transit.

Here are the BookCrossers who have expressed an interest in this bookray. We'll try to stick to this order if at all possible. When you're done, send a private message to the next person on the list and arrange to mail it to him or her. Enjoy!

grover3d
JeepACV
etherea
Megi53
Eslyssa (8/1/04: skipped because Megi53 couldn't reach her)
Kernow8 (bought a replacement book so this ray can continue)

I'm sending this to grover3d. Enjoy!

It's here, and I'm fifty pages in already. Thanks so much!

I made a journal entry before I read veruca's entry. A published author! I immediately went back and re-read your essay, veruca. Congratulations on all you've accomplished - you do BC proud!

Veruca is right - the book is useful because most of the ideas are ones that nearly everyone can incorporate into every day life....these are just ordinary people who want to make a difference. You'll come away from the book with a new zeal for voluntarism!

Thanks so much for sharing it - now I'm off to MoveOn.org to buy my own copy!

DC# - 0302 0980 0001 2033 0942

Just rec'd in mail today and I hope to read by this weekend.
Thanks for sharing this book!

06/13/04 -- I also found this book uplifting and inspiring. Some things seem so common sense, others sound like a lot of work, but all seem worthwhile.

I'm also off to find a couple copies of my own to pass around. I'll ship this one in the next couple of days.

Thanks, again, for sharing this important book!

Released on Tuesday, June 15, 2004 at Bookring in Bookring, A Bookring Controlled Releases.

shipped via media mail today

Picked this up at the post office today and it looks like a good one--I may have to order my own copy. I read the journal entries after browsing through the book and then had to read the essay on page 30 first;)
I'll journal again after I read all of it--thanks for sharing this with so many people, veruca!

Thanks so much for sharing this book, Veruca! I think that this is a very important book. I agree with some of the other journalers that the book is useful because most of the ideas are ones that nearly everyone can incorporate into every day life.
I had this longer than I meant to keep it. I mailed it to Megi53 by priority mail today.

This came at a good time. I should be able to read it in less than a week!

The editors chose well for variety. There were so many different age ranges, states of the U.S., and experiences contained in this slim volume. The very best thing, for me, was the plethora of websites mentioned for progressive issues. I have already looked at about ten of them, and they were all still active! After I journal this, I'm going to check out morethanmoney.org.

Some of the ideas were shocking to my semi-conservative mind. Asking uninvolved friends and relatives to vote for your candidate or crossing state lines to work for an election seems a bit, well, shady to me.

Mailed to Kernow8 today.

I'm so pleased this arrived today! I've been looking forward to it for ages and needed cheering up today. Also, one of the things I need cheering up about involve a government policy that I think is crazy, so it'll be good to think about how I can channel some of my feelings in a positive way!

This looks like something I can dip in and out of, and read alongside my main reading material, so I'll start it right away and send it on as soon as I can. The main book I'm reading at the moment is Bayou Farewell - in which the author reveals the impending disaster facing coastal Louisiana which is sinking and losing land rapidly, and explains what needs to be done to save that area - so the two books will complement each other very well.

Thanks veruca for starting this, and thanks to megi53 for sending it across the ocean.

An excellent idea - and so simple. 50 ideas for getting politically involved - with enough variety that no matter what your strengths and weaknesses are, you can find something that appeals to you.

As the first reader of this bookring from outside the US, I have to say much of it is targetted at an American audience, but there were some fantastic suggestions applicable to anyone, anywhere. The chapters on online action, the media and "personal action is political" were pretty much universal. I am very tempted to buy a copy to keep for future reference. I'd love to find a political manual like this written specifically for the UK though - with all the country-specific contact details and election & law-making procedures neatly contained in one small volume. Most of it is pretty obvious stuff but it would be so good when feeling small, powerless and depressed to be able to get the MoveOn manual out and decide which of these 50 ways to choose to do something about it.

I'll be sending on to BlueStockings very soon... Thanks!

I did actually post this on Tuesday 21st September, by UK first class post (so it should have only taken 1-2 days to get there), so I'm getting increasingly concerned about it. I've just sent a PM to BlueStockings - I'm hoping that she simply hasn't visited the pub where she gets her mail sent since then. Watch this space...

This book is lost. I PMed blueStockings in December 2005, and she confirmed that she didn't receive the book.

This book seems to be one that is truly lost in the post. Sent out in the great postal world to fend for itself this book has been traveling for quite some time now. Thankfully, there is the Lost Book Island where this weary book can come to get the rest and relaxation that it so deserves.

It is hoped that after some time on the beach resting under a shade tree this book will be rejuvinated and that one day a new journal entry will come that will tell the world (well at least the BookCrossing world) where this book has been this long, long time and where it might get to travel to next.

Thank you to kernow8 for providing this replacement book for this lost book!